Despite what you might think from switching on any news channel, the world is safer to explore now than it¬ís ever been. Never before have so many countries been so accessible, with reliable transport options, detailed information on almost every destination and technology that helps us stay in constant contact with the rest of the world.

Still, anyone traveling to another country ¬Ė be it for vacation, travels or work ¬Ė would be wise to exercise some caution and find out as much as possible about their destination in advance. Some countries are, of course, safer to visit than others, as shown on the 2019 Travel Risk Map.

Put together by global risk experts International SOS in collaboration with Control Risks, the map looks at different aspects of risk including medical, security and road safety, rating them across five levels from lowest to highest. The criteria used to define risk levels varies for each category and are quite detailed.

Security risk evaluates the threat posed to visitors by political violence (terrorism, insurgency and the like), social unrest, more general crime and wider factors like transport infrastructure, quality of emergency services and susceptibility to natural disasters. They¬íre rated from ¬Ďinsignificant¬í to ¬Ďextreme¬í risk.

Medical risk includes not only countries but regions, evaluating the threat from health risks like infectious diseases, availability of medical care, environmental factors, access to quality pharmaceuticals as well as cultural, language and administrative barriers. Rated from ¬Ďlow¬í to ¬Ďvery high¬í, there¬ís also a category that highlights ¬Ďrapidly developing variable risk¬í.

Countries rated an ¬Ďextreme¬í risk include Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia, Syria, South Sudan, Mali and Libya, where ¬ďGovernment control and law and order may be minimal or non-existent across large areas. Serious threat of violent attacks by armed groups targeting travelers and international assignees. Government and transport services are barely functional. Large parts of the country are inaccessible to foreigners.¬Ē

Elsewhere, several countries have different levels of risk across different areas, which makes it all the more important to research first ¬Ė especially as many are popular vacation places like Egypt, Mexico and India.

On a more positive note, the map reveals that most of the world is relatively low risk to visit. In particular, most of Europe (with the exception of parts of Russia and the Ukraine), China, Japan and South Korea are very tourist friendly, as are some less tourist-orientated destinations like Oman, Iran, Uzbekistan, Senegal, Gabon, Suriname and Paraguay.

WASHINGTON ¬ó With a second U.S.-North Korea nuclear summit looming in February, researchers have discovered a secret ballistic missile base in North Korea ¬ó one of as many as 20 undisclosed missile sites in the country, according to the researchers¬í new report.

The Kim regime has never disclosed the existence of the Sino-ri Missile Operating Base to the outside world. Ballistic missiles are the primary delivery mechanism for*North Korean nuclear warheads.

The report from Beyond Parallel, a project sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a defense think tank, was released Monday and comes after an announcement Friday that President donald trump "looks forward" to meeting with Chairman Kim Jong Un next month "at a place to be announced at a later date."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The North Koreans are not going to negotiate over things they don¬ít disclose," said Victor Cha, one of the authors of the report. "It looks like they¬íre playing a game. They¬íre still going to have all this operational capability," even if they destroy their disclosed*nuclear facilities.

Cha says the base is "clearly a mainstay of their strategic missile force," but there are no indications it is part of any discussions on*denuclearization.

Situated about 130 miles north of the DMZ, Sino-ri Missile Operating Base houses the headquarters for the Korean People¬ís Army Strategic Rocket Forces missile brigade, a unit responsible for ballistic missiles. The base has been central to developing ballistic missiles that are capable of reaching South Korea, Japan, and even Guam, according to the report.

Beyond Parallel researchers estimate North Korea has 20 undisclosed sites where it continues to develop its ballistic missile program. Sino-ri is one of the oldest of those sites but is still operational today. Satellite photos dated Dec. 27, 2018, show an entrance to an underground bunker, hardened shelters, and a headquarters area, according to Beyond Parallel. The underground bunkers have rock and dirt berms in front that appear to protect them from artillery fire and airstrikes. The base is just under 7 square miles in size.

Sino-ri is supported by two nearby facilities, the Sobaek-su Academy and Myodu-san training area.

The Sobaek-su Academy was established in the late 1950s or 1960s as an artillery officer¬ís school and expanded in the following decades, becoming a ballistic missile school early this century, according to the report.

The school not only educates Strategic Rocket Forces officers, but it may also conduct research on "ballistic missile design and operation," the report says. Satellite photos show buildings suspected to hold barracks and classrooms, vehicle storage facilities, and an entrance to an underground facility.

The Myodu-san training area sits less than a mile from the academy and may serve as the training facility for the both the Sino-ri missile base and the academy.

Cha, a former National Security Council official focused on Asian affairs, agreed that the trip to Beijing was a sign Kim is readying for the next meeting.

"This happened last time, too. Kim Jong Un has more leverage in the meeting if he¬ís just met with Chinese," Cha said, adding, "The Chinese want to make sure that they see Kim before he has another meeting with the U.S. too."

The Trump administration tapped Cha as ambassador to South Korea, but his nomination was withdrawn in early 2018 because of policy disagreements.

On Sunday, Trump tweeted about a possible second summit, saying he is "looking forward to meeting with Chairman Kim at the end of February!" Trump also wrote, "The Media is not giving us credit for the tremendous progress we have made with North Korea."

The Media is not giving us credit for the tremendous progress we have made with North Korea. Think of where we were at the end of the Obama Administration compared to now. Great meeting this week with top Reps. Looking forward to meeting with Chairman Kim at end of February!

But a former senior U.S. official briefed on the current negotiations says administration officials and America's allies in the region are nervous that Trump will give up a lot without getting much, if anything, during the upcoming summit with Kim. Those concerns have escalated since Trump's Syria announcement on troop withdrawal after speaking with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey. Japanese officials in particular are "extremely nervous."

"They¬íre incredibly uncomfortable," the former official said.

They anticipate Trump could agree to international sanctions relief, a liaison office in Pyongyang and an end-of-war declaration, the official said, adding that North Korean officials have told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo they want sanctions relief but the end-of-war declaration is not as much of a priority.

Many good conversations with North Korea-it is going well! In the meantime, no Rocket Launches or Nuclear Testing in 8 months. All of Asia is thrilled. Only the Opposition Party, which includes the Fake News, is complaining. If not for me, we would now be at War with North Korea!

Some Trump administration officials and U.S. allies are nervous because there is still so little known about what Kim and Trump talked about when they met in Singapore last year. Only the interpreter knows, the official said.

"I don¬ít think the president is telling anyone what he told him," the former official said, so the North Koreans can use that to tell American negotiators whatever they want about what Trump said.

Trump said in July via Twitter that the recent lack of North Korean missile launches is a sign that his approach is working.

The Syria announcement has solidified for world leaders, including those in Japan and South Korea, that the only thing that matters in terms of achieving the U.S. position they want is getting a one-on-one with Trump. "They all know that you¬íve got to get to the president and that the president, because he doesn¬ít study that much, is probably an easy mark," the former official said. "This is a leader game. They¬íre all trying to get to him. That¬ís why there¬ís so much anxiety."

There is also concern that Trump will fall back on his threats to withdraw troops from the Korean Peninsula. The recent failure to complete the Special Measures Agreement, a regularly renewed five-year defense pact between the U.S. and South Korea, increases the chances of a fight in the alliance, and that precipitates withdrawal, the former official said.

"I can¬ít find anybody in the U.S. who thinks the North Koreans are denuclearizing," the former official said. "There was a reluctant conclusion that they had to roll the dice on another summit" to get negotiations moving again.

Jung Pak, a former U.S. intelligence officer who has long tracked North Korea and is now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said experts both inside and outside the government don¬ít believe Kim is ready to give up his nuclear arsenal.

The U.S. government assesses that North Korean ballistic missile development and activity has continued throughout 2018 and into 2019, but North Korea¬ís actions have not been as aggressive as in 2017 when it launched about two-dozen missiles during 16 tests. North Korea¬ís missile program made dramatic strides in 2017 with numerous ICBM launches and while the launches ceased in 2018, the development did not.

Despite the U.S. desire for the North Koreans to provide a full accounting of their ballistic missile sites and nuclear weapons program, North Korea has not yet done so.

The Trump administration says the discussions with the North have already produced progress by lowering tensions, and that the regime has not conducted new missile or nuclear tests since the diplomacy began.

But former officials and lawmakers say North Korea remains an unpredictable danger to the U.S. and its allies, with an increasingly capable nuclear and missile arsenal.

"Tensions have been reduced. But the North Korean threat has not been reduced," Pak said. "Those are two different things."

U.S. officials also acknowledge that North Korea continues to produce fissile material for weapons.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California announced her presidential candidacy on Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Speaking to reporters, Harris took a question from CBS News political correspondent Ed O'Keefe, who asked what the Democratic Party needs to do to engage black voters in 2020.

BREAKING: Massive protests are being planned by federal workers and labor unions on Wednesday, demanding that Mitch McConnell and his GOP cronies in the Senate open up the government with no strings attached.#TrumpShutdown#GOPShutdown#MitchShutdown

On the eve of a holiday commemorating the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Vice President Pence seemed to liken President Trump’s push for a border wall to the civil rights leader’s legacy.

Speaking Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” the vice president quoted from King’s “I Have a Dream” speech as he defended Trump’s latest pitch to secure funding for a barrier along the United States’ southern border. The budget impasse over the wall has resulted in the longest government shutdown in history, one that has left thousands of federal workers without pay.

“One of my favorite quotes from Dr. King was, ‘Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy,’ ” Pence said. “You think of how he changed America. He inspired us to change through the legislative process, to become a more perfect union.

“That’s exactly what President Trump is calling on Congress to do,” Pence continued. “Come to the table in the spirit of good faith. We’ll secure our border. We’ll reopen the government and we’ll move our nation forward as the president said yesterday to even a broader discussion about immigration reform in the months ahead.”

Pence was referring to the president’s latest proposal to end the partial government shutdown. On Saturday, Trump offered Democrats three years of deportation protections for some immigrants, including many who were brought to the country illegally as children, in exchange for $5.7 billion in wall funding.

Democrats, who have long sought protections for beneficiaries of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, who are known as “dreamers,” immediately rejected the proposal, arguing that the president should reopen the government before any talks on border security begin. Conservatives saw the president’s proposal as amnesty.

On Sunday, Pence appeared on multiple shows and defended Trump’s proposal, which he said “provides a framework” for ending the shutdown.

“What the president presented yesterday really is an effort to bring together ideas from both political parties,” Pence said on CBS. “I think it is an act of statesmanship on the president’s part to say, ‘Here is what I’m for. It includes my priorities, it includes priorities that Democrats have advanced for some period of time.’”

Pence’s comments about King drew immediate pushback from Democrats, including Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), who said Trump “is no MLK.”

The latest report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) revealed that sales of arms and military services by global majors totaled $398.2 billion in 2017, marking a 44 percent growth over the past 15 years.
"The overall number excludes Chinese data due to the lack of available information to allow for a reasonable or consistent estimate," the report reads.

Here's the top ten of the world's biggest defense corporations by sales, according to the institute.

1. Lockheed Martin

The US company reportedly sold arms worth $44.9 billion in 2017, marking an 8.3 percent growth against the year prior. The Bethesda-based arms giant remained the world's number one weapons producer by sales. Lockheed Martin produces various defense systems, from combat ships to hypersonic missiles to fighter jets. The company delivers the F-35 fighter jet, the world's most expensive weapons system, to Pentagon.

2. Boeing

US space and aircraft giant Boeing brought in $26.9 billion in sales. 2017 marked a substantial gap of $18 billion between Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

"The fall in Boeing's arms sales can be partially attributed to delays in the delivery of KC-46 tanker aircraft and the end of deliveries of C-17 transport aircraft," according to the SIPRI report.

Arm's sales accounted for only 29 percent of the aircraft manufacturing giant's total in 2017. Last year, Boeing managed to seal a wide range of contracts with the US Government. The corporation signed over 20 deals with a total value of $13.7 billion in September alone.

3. Raytheon

This US arms manufacturer is reportedly the world's biggest producer of guided missiles and missile defense systems. In 2017, Raytheon saw a sales increase of two percent compared to 2016. The company reportedly earned $23.9 billion.

Its portfolio includes the Patriot missile system, a combat-tested platform, which is reportedly the backbone of European ballistic missile defense. Raytheon's Patriot system is used in nine countries outside Europe.

4. BAE Systems

The British arms producer sold $22.9 billion worth of weapons, demonstrating a 3.3 percent growth against the previous year. The UK remained the largest arms producer in the region in 2017, with total arms sales of $35.7 billion.
5. Northrop Grumman

This US arms-manufacturing corporation brought $22.4 billion in sales in 2017, marking a modest year-on-year growth of 2.4 percent. The aerospace and defense tech firm bought American rocket maker Orbital ATK, with the aim of expanding its business in the space market.

6. General Dynamics

The Virginia-based defense company sold arms worth $19.5 billion, marking a slight decrease from $19.6 billion the previous year. Its M1 Abrams tank has been used in nearly every major US military operation over the past 40 years.

7. Airbus Group

The second largest defense contractor in Europe, Airbus, brought in $11.3 billion in arms sales in 2017. Arms sales are not the key revenue earner for the European aerospace giant accounting for only 15 percent of its $75 billion revenue. Its business is mostly focused on commercial aircraft and space sectors.

The Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet, the result of collaboration between the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain, is Airbus's most recognizable military product.

8.Thales

In 2017, French defense corporation Thales demonstrated sales of $9 billion, which is around half of its total 2017 revenue. The company managed to raise weapon sales by nearly seven percent from the previous year. Thales manufactures a wide range of defense products, from armored vehicles to missile defense to navigation equipment.

9. Leonardo

Italian weapon producer brought in $8.9 billion in 2017 arms sales, which makes 68 percent of its total revenue. Leonardo produces helicopters, missiles and drones, as well as equipment for non-military space programs.

10. Almaz-Antey

The Russian weapons supplier entered the top ten of the SIPRI's annual ranking. In 2017, the country's biggest arms company increased sales by 17 percent to $8.6 billion. The company's flagship product, the S-400, a mobile long-range surface-to-air missile system,has managed to lure dozens of foreign military buyers over the last five year.

Lady Gaga weighed in on the nation¬ís current state of affairs during her ¬ďEnigma¬Ē show in Las Vegas on Saturday, joining an ever-growing list of celebrities to voice their disapproval of the Trump administration.

The Grammy winner singled out Vice President Mike Pence, slamming him for thinking ¬ďit¬ís acceptable that his wife work at a school that bans LGBTQ.¬Ē

The vice president has defended Karen Pence¬ís decision to teach at the Immanuel Christian School, which bans LGBTQ employees, students and families. In an interview with Eternal World Television Network, Mike Pence likened the uproar over his wife¬ís decision to an attack on Christianity.

¬ďYou are wrong,¬Ē the singer said, before speaking of her own Christian faith:

You said we should not discriminate against Christianity. You are the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian. I am a Christian woman, and what I do know about Christianity is that we bear no prejudice and everybody is welcome. So you can take all that disgrace Mr. Pence and you can look yourself in the mirror and you¬íll find it right there.

The ¬ďA Star Is Born¬Ē actress also issued a message to Donald Trump amid the ongoing partial government shutdown, asking if ¬ďthe fu*king president of the United States could please put our government back in business.¬Ē

¬ďThere are people who live paycheck to paycheck and need their money,¬Ē she said to applause from the audience.

Jan 20 - World's 26 richest people own as much as poorest 50%, says Oxfam

4 people viewing this

| By BuyGold - 21 hours ago

Quote:

The growing concentration of the world¬ís wealth has been highlighted by a report showing that the 26 richest billionaires own as many assets as the 3.8 billion people who make up the poorest half of the planet¬ís population.

In an annual wealth check released to mark the start of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the development charity Oxfam said 2018 had been a year in which the rich had grown richer and the poor poorer.

It said the widening gap was hindering the fight against poverty, adding that a 1% wealth tax would raise an estimated $418bn (¬£325bn) a year ¬Ė enough to educate every child not in school and provide healthcare that would prevent 3 million deaths.

Action not words needed over biggest public health failure of our time: pneumonia
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Oxfam said the wealth of more than 2,200 billionaires across the globe had increased by $900bn in 2018 ¬Ė or $2.5bn a day. The 12% increase in the wealth of the very richest contrasted with a fall of 11% in the wealth of the poorest half of the world¬ís population.

As a result, the report concluded, the number of billionaires owning as much wealth as half the world¬ís population fell from 43 in 2017 to 26 last year. In 2016 the number was 61.

Among the findings of the report were:

In the 10 years since the financial crisis, the number of billionaires has nearly doubled.
Between 2017 and 2018 a new billionaire was created every two days.
The world¬ís richest man, Jeff Bezos, the owner of Amazon, saw his fortune increase to $112bn. Just 1% of his fortune is equivalent to the whole health budget for Ethiopia, a country of 105 million people.
The poorest 10% of Britons are paying a higher effective tax rate than the richest 10% (49% compared with 34%) once taxes on consumption such as VAT are taken into account.
Oxfam¬ís director of campaigns and policy, Matthew Spencer, said: ¬ďThe massive fall in the number of people living in extreme poverty is one of the greatest achievements of the past quarter of a century but rising inequality is jeopardising further progress.

¬ďThe way our economies are organised means wealth is increasingly and unfairly concentrated among a privileged few while millions of people are barely subsisting. Women are dying for lack of decent maternity care and children are being denied an education that could be their route out of poverty. No one should be condemned to an earlier grave or a life of illiteracy simply because they were born poor.

¬ďIt doesn¬ít have to be this way ¬Ė there is enough wealth in the world to provide everyone with a fair chance in life. Governments should act to ensure that taxes raised from wealth and businesses paying their fair share are used to fund free, good-quality public services that can save and transform people¬ís lives.¬Ē

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The report said many governments were making inequality worse by failing to invest enough in public services. It noted that about 10,000 people die for lack of healthcare and there were 262 million children not in school, often because their parents were unable to afford the fees, uniforms or textbooks.

Oxfam said governments needed to do more to fund high-quality, universal public services through tackling tax dodging and ensuring fairer taxation, including on corporations and the richest individuals¬í wealth, which it said were often undertaxed.

A global wealth tax has been called for by the French economist Thomas Piketty, who has said action is needed to arrest the trend in inequality.

The World Inequality Report 2018 ¬Ė co-authored by Piketty ¬Ė showed that between 1980 and 2016 the poorest 50% of humanity only captured 12 cents in every dollar of global income growth. By contrast, the top 1% captured 27 cents of every dollar.

Oxfam said that in addition to tackling inequality at home, developed nations currently failing to meet their overseas aid commitments could raise the missing billions needed to tackle extreme poverty in the poorest countries by increasing taxes on extreme wealth.

China¬ís rapid growth over the past four decades has been responsible for much of the decline in extreme poverty but Oxfam said World Bank data showed the rate of poverty reduction had halved since 2013. In sub-Saharan Africa, extreme poverty was on the increase.

Oxfam said its methodology for assessing the gap between rich and poor was based on global wealth distribution data provided by the Credit Suisse global wealth data book, covering the period from June 2017 to June 2018. The wealth of billionaires was calculated using the annual Forbes billionaires list published in March 2018.

Jan 20 - Member of Yakuza arrested for having honest job, dishonest application

4 people viewing this

| By mr_underground - 23 hours ago

60-year-old man¬ís application paperwork lands him in trouble.

The Japanese mafia, known as the Yakuza, have a pretty notorious reputation. Although they try to keep a positive image by handing out candy on Halloween, their association with prostitution, drugs, and gambling is their most pervasive impression.

Such as their reputation is, members of organized crime are rather frowned upon by Japanese society, which leads them to be unwelcome in many organizations and public spaces. One 60-year-old man in Kasugai City, Aichi Prefecture, west of Tokyo, found this out when he tried to work part-time at the Post Office, but instead ended up fired and arrested for being paid for his work.

Now you may ask, what¬ís so wrong with a man earning an honest wage at a part-time job? Well, it seems that in order to get a job at the Post Office, you have to sign a contract that says, ¬ďI am not a member of an organized crime group¬Ē which the man did when he took the position. Unfortunately, he was associated with the Yamaguchi Clan, the most powerful Yakuza clan in the country and one of the most powerful organized crime units in the world. Naturally this meant that the man violated his contract with the Post Office, and of course once his secret was out after just four days of working there, he was immediately fired.

But why was he arrested? The details are not exactly clear, but it seems that it¬ís because he received pay under fraudulent conditions. The police were searching the Yamaguchi clan office, where they found records that he¬íd received a direct deposit of pay from the Post Office to his bank account. Police then arrested the man, who admitted to his crime, and are now conducting an investigation into the man¬ís motive for taking a job at the Post Office.

Japanese netizens¬í responses were a mixed bag of sympathy and criticism, but most of the responses seemed concerned about the money, with many saying, ¬ďHe worked, so he should get paid, shouldn¬ít he?¬Ē

¬ďIt¬ís just part-time wages, why not give it to him?¬Ē
¬ďHe didn¬ít scam anything lol¬Ē
¬ďHe was arrested for working earnestly lol¬Ē
¬ďIt¬ís fine if he actually worked, don¬ít you think?¬Ē
¬ďIt¬ís okay if they fired him once the secret was out, but aren¬ít they supposed to pay him for the time he worked? This is weird.¬Ē

While others were completely unsympathetic:

¬ďThat¬ís definitely scamming. Besides, he caused the Post Office to ruin their good image because they hired a Yakuza member.¬Ē
¬ďThat money would have been paid to the government in some other kind of crime, so we have to have harden our hearts and take care of the problem now.¬Ē
¬ďI have no sympathy for this guy. It¬ís all his fault since all he had to do was just quit the mafia.¬Ē
¬ďIt¬ís because companies aren¬ít supposed to associate with organized crime.¬Ē

Here¬ís a plot twist ¬ó one company is deciding not to launch a new streaming video service.

At a time when NBC, Disney, AT&T, Viacom, Apple and others are considering subscription services for cord cutters, Walmart is abandoning its plans, according to people familiar with the matter. The giant discount retailer opted not to move forward with a new streaming product after talks with veteran media executive Mark Greenberg fell apart last year, said the people, who asked not to be named because the discussions were private.

Instead, Walmart will focus on bolstering Vudu, the video service it acquired in 2010. Vudu offers a variety of movies and shows for free with ads or for purchase that can be rented or owned. Vudu is No. 3 in pay-per-view digital video, trailing Apple and Amazon, Variety reported in October

Greenberg, who was previously CEO of premium movie service Epix, had spoken to Walmart about developing a service aimed at ¬ďMiddle America,¬Ē the people said. The initial success of the ¬ďRoseanne¬Ē revival last year inspired other content creators to go after that type of audience.

But talks with Walmart broke down after Walmart couldn¬ít get comfortable with making a large investment in content, a business where it has no real experience and where competitors such as Netflix can spend more than $10 billion a year on new TV shows and movies.

Vudu has taken a small step in the direction of original content, agreeing to retool the 1983 comedy ¬ďMr. Mom¬Ē into a digital series. The service¬ís focus will continue to be on a broader library of movies and shows. The Vudu business is under Marc Lore, Walmart¬ís head of e-commerce.

¬ďVudu has developed a strong platform, and we aim to continue to bring our customers more content, on more devices, at the best possible price,¬Ē Tara Raddohl-House, a Walmart spokeswoman, said in an e-mail.

Greenberg, meanwhile, has held talks with several other retailers, including Costco, about building out a service geared toward average Americans, but no agreement has been reached, said a person familiar with the matter. Costco didn¬ít immediately respond to a request for comment. The company is also reportedly exploring the launch of a streaming service for its top customers

"As far as I know, President trump did not have discussions with him," he added. "Certainly no discussions with him in which he told him or counseled him to lie.

BuzzFeed reported last week that Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress about a deal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. The report claimed that special counsel Robert Mueller's office had evidence to prove the claim, however the special counsel's office disputed the accuracy of the story, calling the "characterization ... not accurate." It is not clear which parts of the story Mueller's office disputed. BuzzFeed stands by its reporting.

Guiliani maintained that the Buzzfeed story was "phony" and "scandalous...fake news."

However, he said although he had no knowledge of such conversations, the president may have discussed Cohen's testimony with him without directing him to lie.

.@RudyGiuliani: √Ę¬Ä¬úAs far as I know, President Trump did not have discussions √Ę¬Ä¬¶ in which he told (Michael Cohen) or counseled him to lie. If he had any discussions with him, they'd be about the version of events that Michael Cohen gave them, which they all believed was true.√Ę¬Ä¬Ě pic.twitter.com/1c1NBnrZ7c

If he had any discussions with him, they'd be about the version of the events that Michael Cohen gave them which they all believe was true," Giuliani said.
iuliani said during a separate appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he is “100 percent certain” that Trump never once asked Cohen to do anything but tell the truth to Congress.

“I can tell you his counsel to Michael Cohen throughout that entire period was, ‘Tell the truth.’ We thought he was telling the truth. I still believe he may have been telling the truth when he testified before Congress,” he told host Chuck Todd.

Cohen pleaded guilty last November to lying to Congress about plans to build Trump Tower in Moscow, and signed a plea deal with Mueller's office. Cohen said he was lying when he told Congress in an August 2017 letter that "the Moscow Project ended in January 2016," before the Iowa caucuses. According to Cohen, discussions on the project were still happening in June 2016.*

Buzzfeed also reported that Trump was involved in ongoing negotiations over the Moscow project and supported a plan to visit Russia and meet with President Vladimir Putin during the 2016 campaign. According to BuzzFeed, citing two law enforcement sources, Trump had at least 10 face-to-face meetings with Cohen about the matter.

Trump "wasn't talking to Russia about anything" during the campaign, Giuliani told CNN. "It was an early stage proposal that never got beyond a nonbinding letter of intent run by Michael Cohen. It was his project and being done while Donald Trump was running for president of the United States and wasn't focused on that at all."

A. The vast majority of people on welfare work. Its a working poor issue... I know.

B. You have to have a job in order to receive welfare unless there's a qualifier as in the case of the elderly, disabled, etc. A lot of vets, vets with ptsd and kids will be eating from those boxes.

But maaaaannn

Fvck relying on the government. Families need to sit together and develop plans to acquire generational wealth. It might have to be a 10 year + plan....so be it. Nah everyone can't be rich. If we all could, no one would be 'rich'. Nevertheless, we should dedicate ample time to setting up multiple streams of incomes. What that bishop in the video said is true: Poverty is a trap. A family with bad financial knowledge passed down from generation to generation will be stuck in a rut. How much time does a family dedicate to entertainment vs. finance education?
Also, a bad start makes it difficult to recover. It's harder to gain wealth if you hit 25 with 4 kids and no degree... A good start is essential. Obviously, all youve got is yourself. There's no trusting uncle Sam.

Staff at Hatton Country World in Warwickshire couldn't understand why they suddenly had 100 pregnant guinea pigs on their hands - until they released one of the male rodents had managed to escape his enclosure and infiltrate the female-only enclosure.

They noticed that the exhausted father-to-be, now nicknamed Randy, had lost a little weight, but did not realise why until they discovered he was actually a male rodent being kept busy in the wrong pen.

The animal park, which already has 300 male and female guinea pigs, is now readying itself for a population boom in the next few weeks.

Manager Richard Craddock said: "One of our male guinea pigs managed to find his way into the female enclosure and had a very good time by the looks of it.

"We suspect a child may have placed him back in the wrong pen by accident after stroking him or Randy may have somehow broken out of his enclosure to get to the females. "

"We believe that the newly-named Randy could have impregnated up to 100 female guinea pigs, which have litters of about four, so if you do the maths we could be expecting quite a baby boom.

ANN ARBOR¬óAs more states legalize cannabis consumption, many more people will likely use medical marijuana as a supplement to or substitution for prescription drugs, says a University of Michigan researcher.

A new study by Daniel Kruger of the U-M Institute for Social Research found that 44 percent of medical cannabis users stopped taking a pharmaceutical drug, or used less of one, or both, in favor of cannabis.

Kruger and co-author Jessica Kruger, a clinical assistant professor at the University of Buffalo, conducted the study to assess attitudes and use of medical cannabis and the mainstream health care system¬ódescribed as either a doctor or hospital¬óamong marijuana users.

In general, people use medical marijuana to treat pain, back problems, depression and headaches. Nearly a third of the study¬ís participants (30 percent) said their mainstream health care provider did not know that they used medical cannabis, indicating gaps between the two treatment systems.

The researchers administered surveys to 450 adults who identified as current cannabis users at an annual public event advocating for marijuana law reform. The event occurred at U-M, in a state where medical cannabis use became legal in 2008.

From the 392 usable responses, the majority (78 percent) reported using marijuana to help treat a medical or health condition. Users also had more trust in medical cannabis compared to mainstream health care, in part, because they rated marijuana better than pharmaceutical drugs on effectiveness, side effects, availability and cost.

¬ďThis study advances knowledge in the evidence-based approach to harm reduction and benefit promotion regarding medical cannabis,¬Ē said Daniel Kruger, a member of the U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. ¬ďGiven the growing use of cannabis for medical purposes and the widespread use for recreation purposes despite criminalization, the current public health framework focusing primarily on cannabis abstinence appears obsolete.¬Ē

The findings appear in the current issue of Journal of Psychoactive Drugs.

A flame-spurting drone destroys a hornet's nest on a wire pole in Xiaokan Village of Chongqing, southwest China, Jan. 16, 2019. The drone was developed by Chongqing's Yongchuan company of the State Grid corporation to help clear harmful obstacles hanging on overhead wires. pic.twitter.com/EfePjqvQPI

Yup. Flamethrowing drones are a thing now. Nothing to be worried about here. Just remotely-operated, airborne hellfire.

The drone was developed in the city of Chongqing, for the intended purpose of clearing harmful obstacles from trees and powerlines. Have we considered that it also introduces a harmful obstacle, namely, rolling licks of flame that answer only to the call of an individual far removed from the scene?

Jesus. Christ. No amount of try-hard Game of Thrones references will make this seem anything short of terrifying.

I mean, it¬ís quite badass, in an ¬ďembracing the end of days¬Ē kind of way. Obviously we all want to pilot it. But doesn¬ít that irresistible call to arson make it all the more worrying?